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Midland Cross Country

The men and women of Leamington C&AC competed in different locations this weekend in the first of their cross country league races. The club saw a number of new recruits make their cross country debut boosting numbers for the local club. The men raced in Pittville Park, Cheltenham which saw them face 3 laps of the park including a stream crossing on each lap. 24 runners represented the club with 5 new recruits and Baljeev Kandola making his senior debut having come through the club’s youth training programme. Callum Hanlon put in a solid performance to finish in 28th position with Paul Andrew second home for the club in 68th. Greg West (who is now in his second senior year) with Kandola showed that youth was on the club’s side, the young adults finishing in 71st and 99th overall. Phil Gould had to settle for 101st in what he described as a “race of incredible high standards this year” with new recruit Iain McLaughlin making up the scoring team in 149th. The men finished 10th overall.

The B team also finished 10th on the day with some close packing from Dom Priest (156th); Dean Mawby (176th); John Knibb (183rd); Charlie Stavely (189th); Jason Hill (195th); Marc Curtis (209th). With the pack of red, white and blue continuing behind Curtis, team members Craig Bower (210th); Craig Biggerstaff (212nd) and new recruit Jeremy Coward (213th) undoubtedly pushed their team-mates up the rankings and secured their 10th place position.

The Leamington Ladies were closer to home racing in Coundon, Coventry. Whilst the men had youth on their side, the ladies were blessed with the fact that 3 of their 4 scoring ladies were also over a certain age, shooting their masters team to first place. Kelly Edwards showed her usual fine performance finishing 11th (2nd master) with Jenny Jeeves pushing through the field to finish 37th (6th master) Laura Fuller, turning up with minutes to spare, ran a solid race to finish 41st with Saffia Del Torre coming in 50th (10th master) to put the ladies in 6th position overall.

Schools Cross Country

The third race of the Mid-Warwickshire Primary School Cross Country took place on Saturday. Hosted by Priorsfield School, Kenilworth, the challenging course sees children face two hill climbs before a decent into what has become, to the children at least, an exciting stream crossing. With teaching staff standing in the stream to assist the children, the children show great delight in hitting the water, whilst the staff try in vain to remain dry. James Gould of Leamington C&AC, somewhat used to the terrain on offer despite being only 11, took the lead over the fields and hills but was unable to maintain it in the flat sprint finish where he was overtaken in the last few seconds of the race. He was accompanied in the top 20 by club mate Finn Williams-Stein who finished 17th overall. Ila Lane, who has finished first in the two previous races, had to work hard over the course with challenges from two other girls. Despite her best efforts Lane finished third on the day with Leamington team mate Esme Du Bois just behind in fourth place. Chloe Lovett, also from LCAC, finished 29th.

Saturday afternoon saw the regional round of the schools cup which, despite 4 LCAC having qualified via their school teams, saw only two of them run due to a lack of school mates to join them. Emily and Ana Lovett represented Southam College in the race in Newport, Shropshire and finished 15th and 20th respectively.

Schools Cross country

Leamington C&AC girls dominated the year 6 primary schools cross country on Saturday. The second fixture in the league saw the pupils running back at Hatton but the tough course was no match for Ila Lane who finished first claiming her second win of the series. Leamington C&AC team members Izzy Goold and Esme DuBois finished just behind in 2nd and 3rd highlighting the talent that is at the Leamington based club. Fellow team-mate Chloe Lovett also ran finishing 29th. The club had had more success earlier in the day with Archie Lane having a clear win in the Year 5 boys race and Louis Proctor taking third position. James Gould struggled with a pulled calf for the duration of the course settling for 5th place in a tight finish.

The secondary schools’ inter area competition also took place on Saturday at Stratford High School where LCAC also showed off their talents. Representing their schools, Harry Bailey came 13th in the junior boys race, with Sam Morrey 26th and Diarmuid Winston 34th. Mel Gould finished 6th in the junior girls race followed by Hannah Cooper (13th) and Eva Fitzpatrick (18th). Jai Sispal was the highest scoring LCAC athlete of the day finishing second in the inter boys race. The inter girls race was awash with Leamington C&AC athletes as the girls, who usually race together, found themselves battling it out for position. Rosie Cale was 4th with Molly Minshull and Ana Lovett close behind taking the 4th and 5th spots. Emily Lovett finished 13th with Rositsa Gugutkova crossing the line in 14th.

THORESBY 10

The Gould family, who all run for Leamington C&AC, dominated the Thoresby 10 event on Sunday. The event sees a number of races set in the beautiful grounds of Thoresby Hall near Nottingham with runners choosing a 5k, 10k or 10 mile route through the estate. The sun was shining, highlighting the beautiful autumnal colours which have become an emblem of the race. The 10 mile race started first with the 10k starting 20 minutes later. Despite the different start times, Phil Gould found himself catching the back of the 10 mile runners quickly and had the extra challenge of weaving in and out of them all for a large chunk of the race. Overtaking his wife Laura (who was in the 10 mile race) he raced on with a comfortable lead to finish first in a time of 36:56. As Phil was finishing his race, James and Mel Gould were lining up to take on the 5k event. Both children having raced the day before, they had not set out to race hard but soon found themselves out near for the front of the pack where their race determination kicked in. James overtook the lead runner with his sister shortly doing the same so that they came in first and second, James in a time of 20:29 and Mel 21:01. Laura Gould finished her 10 mile in 1:42:07.

Tempo Winter Series

Paul Andrew of Leamington C&AC, claimed victory at the first race in the Tempo Winter Series on Sunday. The first of 5 in the series, runners face a 6.3 mile race with a climb up the notorious Ilmington Hill. Despite Andrew claiming it was a “nice stretch of the legs …to round off (his) first week of marathon training” he crossed the line in 37:22, over a minute and a half ahead of second. Simon West of LCAC also won his age category finishing in 17th place overall in a time of 43:16.

Road Relays

Ladies

Despite a busy racing calendar, injuries and illness Leamington Cycling & Athletic Club showed their strength in depth to field two men’s and two women’s teams at last Saturday’s Midland Road Relays in Sutton Park.

Women’s A team equalled the best position this event and were a mere 6 seconds of their best overall team time set 10 years ago. Led off by Natalie Bhangal, she held good form to hand over to Megan Rothman in 15thposition with a time of 16.31 over 4.33k race. Megan then moved the team up 3 places with an excellent 16.34, these times moved them to 3rd& 4threspectively in LCAC all- time records over the distance. Wendy Daniels, ran 17.06 in moving up one place with Zara Blower 17.45 bringing the team home in 1.07:56 for a top dozen place, matching their best from 2008 and just outside a club record at the event. The race was won by Birchfield Harriers in 1.02:57.

A second team manged 40thoverall out of 101 finishing teams gives the club a boost with the Cross Country season fast approaching. Jade Holt led the B team off with 18.20 (42nd), followed by Sarah Price and Eve Walpole both running 19.28 and maintaining the same placing. Courtney Depala brought home the team with 19.41 (40th) in a time of 1.16:57.

Men

The men run a slightly longer course of 5.88k and with a decimated squad it was always going to be a tough ask to make the qualifying National position of the first 25 A teams. Charlie Eastaugh, keen to show his improved form went off to record 18.33 which is the 5thfastest all-time for the club handing over to Dean Mawby. Despite a solid 21.20 from Mawby the quality meant the team slipping down to a more realistic 29th. Charlie Staveley ran 21.21 (34th) before debutant Iain McLaughlin’s excellent 20.35 (32nd) backed up by Jack Savage’s 20.36 (28th). This knocked 2 minutes off Jack’s previous best on this course. The A team ending up with Vassilis Andreoulakis 21.01 for a team total of 2.03:37 in 30thposition.

The B team, with an average age of 54 were also in attendance finishing 86thout of 107 finishing teams. Led off by Jason Hill’s pb of 21.45 (73rd), Club Chair Nick Tawney 23.50 (81), John Knibb 22.34 (72) and Kevin Walpole 23.51 (74). The team was completed by 64 year old Dave Potter 25.51 (77) and late replacement Alex Montgomery 28.43.

U15 girls Road relays

Leamington C&AC trio, Mel Gould, Emily Lovett and Ana Lovett took part in the Midland road relays on Saturday. The girls are seasoned participants of the bi-annual event which is held in Sutton Park, Birmingham. The course involves a fast start before a gruelling uphill climb. A downhill section is some relief before a hard uphill finish. The girls ran a combined time of 49:42 to finish 23rd overall.

PRIMARY SCHOOL XC

A number of Leamington C&AC were present at the first primary school cross country event of the season. Held at Southam College, the year 6 children faced a fast, flat two looped course of the playing fields. The club’s training paid off with members Ila Roden finishing first and Esme DuBois second in the girl’s race. Whilst in the boy’s event, James Gould, also of LCAC, had to battle for position all the way round, finally finishing second. Other LCAC runners were Chloe Lovett (14th), Natalie Greenwood (52nd) and Niall Fitzpatrick.

Else where

Shamira Naidu-Young – 3rd lady and new PB (in 45:35) at the Balsall Common Fun Run 10k.